After last week’s splurge of local government gains, this week saw another pair of gains, this time in Kent.
Tim Prater reports;
“Lynne Beaumont was the Councillor for Park ward from 2003-11. the by-elections were held after a Conservative Councillor for Park ward resigned his seats (having not attended a Folkestone Town Council meeting for six months).
“The Conservative Shepway District Council have made a number of hugely controversial decisions lately, not least consulting on whether to host the UK high level nuclear waste storage facility (not unsurprisingly, the consultation said no) and introducing on-street parking charges in Folkestone that have been hugely unpopular and massively cut trade for many traders.
“Against that backdrop we ran around a six week campaign with a wide range of leaflets, letters, postcards and targeted mail, making it clear that we were best placed to beat the Conservatives and that electing Lynne would send a strong message on Parking to the Conservatives. We had a great team of volunteer deliverers, backed up by an excellent core team during the campaign and on polling day.
“Many thanks for the people who helped the campaign (including those who helped with phone canvassing and knock-up), and the people of Folkestone and Park who have indeed sent a strong message to Shepway District Council on Parking!”
The full result in the District Council seat was;
In the Town Council seat, the result was;
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2 Comments
Well done to Lynne and Lynne.
I note that Conservative Home (very helpfully) draw attention to some Press Association analysis of the large batch of 37 Council by-elections last week. On 15 November Lib Dems had a net gain of four and Green of one. Labour lost three seats overall and Tories two.
The PA extrapolate from the comparable results and project shares as being:
Labour 35.8%
Conservatives 29.3%
Lib Dems 19.9%
I did a quick look at libdem vote changes last thursday. For seats last contested in may the average change was essentially zero. However the spread was very uneven with twice as many falls as rises & the typical rise twice as large as the typical fall. That would fit with us making net gains but is it because of a change in our behaviour or the voters ?
Have we been targeting more ruthlessly or are the voters buying into the media narrative (traitors/hated/finished ) until they see us in the flesh ?